Stanley Cup 2011

Anyone here following the Stanley Cup playoffs?

I may find myself rooting for the Canucks *shudder* if only for the fact that I hate Boston with every fiber of my being. The Canucks have been playing great this season, but Tim Thomas is a tough act to follow. They've got their work put out for them.

I'm also slightly irked by the fact that NBC won't be broadcasting Game 3 and 4 of the finals. Are there really that little people in the US that watch what is probably the most watched series of games outside of the Olympics?

Oh also, if you don't have VS/CBC/RDS like me and don't have a means of watching the finals for game 3 and 4, this is a pretty decent site I've found for streaming the games:

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/

On paper it would appear to be an easy win for Vancouver but thankfully the outcome on sport isn't determined by statistics.
Anyway sort of a hard one to call since both teams have a long and illustrious history of choking. I'd still say the Canucks but if I did it would more or less guarantee a Boston victory.:mellow:

Btw I don't know if it's still holds true but last I heard dog shows got better ratings in the U.S. than hockey so I don't blame NBC for running repeats of Harry's Law or ShamWow infomercials or whatever it is they are doing to fill the time.
I do blame the American public for tuning in to Nascar though.

Two brilliant games with some brilliant goaltending from both sides. Tim Thomas is probably one of (if not the) most talented goalies in the league, but his aggressive style got the better of him.

It was also interesting to note how Alexander Burrows, the guy responsible for this incident, which many people though he should be suspended for (and wasn't), ended up being a key player in the second game. Funny how these things work out.

Oh and I still can't believe it when people tell me Nascar is the most watched sport in the US. How fucking exciting can it be to watch the same fucking cars drive around in circles, over and over again?

People watch Nascar not for the racing but for the accidents.

Btw I knew I liked you for a reason although up until this very second I didn't know what that reason might be.
Tell me that you like Taylor Swift and we possibly could be friends for life.

Also I believe you might actually be more Canadian than I am.

The Canucks just got absolutely murdered that game. And the oh so many parallels that can be drawn to the Blackhawks series... Here's to not choking again? Once again, Thomas did brilliantly that game. Boston continues to give turnovers, but they just haven't seemed to have solved Thomas yet.

And me? From Canadia? There's a reason I cringe everytime that poor excuse for an anthem is played before a game. They should just play the American anthem game, most of the teams are American anyway, I'm sure we wouldn't miss it.

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Originally Posted by Rart

And me? From Canadia? There's a reason I cringe everytime that poor excuse for an anthem is played before a game. They should just play the American anthem game, most of the teams are American anyway, I'm sure we wouldn't miss it.

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Deny it all you want but it's as clear as the tail on a beaver that you are one of those repressed ,in the closet Canadian Americans.
Sure now on the outside you're all Mom,apple pie and bringing your military might unprovoked to bear on other countries but mark my words one day you will come back from college wearing a toque and tell your family how you are getting a 2-4 of Molsons and heading to the cottage with your buds.

Btw how about that hit on Nathan Horton by Aaron Rome? Late is an understatement as I could have eaten supper and still had time to do the dishes in the time between Horton passing the puck and being hit.

While it can be hard to judge how "late" a hit is through replays and hits can often just be due to just prior momentum, the fact that he had very little if any momentum heading towards Horton before the pass and basically charged him, in addition to the shoulder straight to the head made me call bullshit on the "late hit". I actually found this to be more interesting and controversial, at least for me. I had no idea a goalie could do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBVdz6UO3U

The last few games have been particularly interesting, to say the least. Why does it feel like that it's more that Luongo, rather than the Canucks, is the one that has a history of choking? I feel bad pinning the blame entirely on Luongo, but I think after his blasts against Thomas following the fifth game, he needed that loss to get him back down to earth. Here's to hoping that this series mirrors the Blackhawks one so well that the Canucks do make it through game 7.

Thoughts on MVP? Or is it really even a question with Thomas' continued stellar performance?

It is strange to see a goalie do something so far from the norm.I would guess that usually bodychecking a player would be also taking yourself out of the play so probably not the prescribed thing to do. In that case the puck was lost in skates and Thomas figured hard to poke a puck in when you are lying on your back.
There was a time though before they made that slly rule where the goalie couldn't play the puck outside the allowed zone behind the icing line that occasionally a goalie got a pretty good hit in.A famous old boston goalie Gerry Cheevers was known for it as was Philly's Ron Hextall. They also used to (as it was then allowed) occasionally skate past center ice.

About Luongo whether you want to or not, as the series has gone with Vancouver basically not scoring ,it does come down to either he holds the fort and they have a chance to win or he doesn't and they don't.

As for MVP it's rare but not unknown to have someone from the losing team win it so as since Kessler's disappeared and clearly no one individual from Vancouver deserves it my money's on Thomas whatever the outcome of the series.

Pretty late but better late than never, right?

Tim Thomas was the clear cut choice for tournament MVP as well as the Vezina trophy. He is just simply amazing. Managing a shutout while being outshot nearly 2-1 (although shots are certainly not always indicative of the performance of a team) in a high pressure game 7 is no easy task. I heard that he was the first goalie to get a shutout in a game 7 on the road, and only the fourth to ever get a shutout in a game 7. He pretty much won it for his team. Tim Thomas was simply amazing, and setting a record for save percentage doesn't hurt either (btw, do you know what the criteria/cutoff is for setting save percentage records? Obviously they cant count a goalie who has made in appearance in like 4 games and has a .970 SV % or something).

I was also glad that hear that Perry won the Hart Memorial Trophy. Go Ducks :01:. Also important was the fact that someone on a Canuck team (ie Sedin) didn't get it. Yes, most players on American teams (and Perry) are from Canadia anyway but I choose to ignore that.

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There was a time though before they made that slly rule where the goalie couldn't play the puck outside the allowed zone behind the icing line

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The Brodeur rule? I never quite understood the reasoning behind that rule. I guess there is the possibility that stifling up and coming Brodeur's could increase scoring, although Brodeur himself raised a good point: "If you give the liberty to the goalies to play the puck, they'll mess up more than they're successful." The rule also allows for easier and more frequent dumps that we all know are incredibly exciting. :dabs:

BTW Hextall is the fucking man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRjfmNWSRiE

Searching Ron Hextall on youtube will provide hours of entertainment, guaranteed.

I guess all there's really left now is the draft/free agents, I'm not a particularly huge follower/at all interested in who goes where (I've always found it a little odd that people always think I'm from the town of the teams I support, seeing as it's all rather arbitrary anyway, rarely are there people from the actual town of the team that play on it), but if you want to pretend like people actually give a fuck about what you have to say, feel free to talk about it.

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Originally Posted by Rart

Two brilliant games with some brilliant goaltending from both sides. Tim Thomas is probably one of (if not the) most talented goalies in the league, but his aggressive style got the better of him.

It was also interesting to note how Alexander Burrows, the guy responsible for this incident, which many people though he should be suspended for (and wasn't), ended up being a key player in the second game. Funny how these things work out.

Oh and I still can't believe it when people tell me Nascar is the most watched sport in the US. How fucking exciting can it be to watch the same fucking cars drive around in circles, over and over again?

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i don't understand the question.